Pinkie Pie stared long and hard at the sign. It was just a sign, but it said so much. It was a bad sign too, that was the worst part. She watched it a little longer before speaking to the pony beside her. "What does it mean, Twilight?"

Her purple friend gave a contemplative hmm. "It means that Rarity's been trying to hide something from us."

Pinkie had waited patiently outside the doors to the castle for Twilight. She could be so slow sometimes, that pony. After regrouping, they had raced to find Rarity's shop in Canterlot. They did, only to find nothing but that evil sign that told everyone the large building was for sale. It looked like such a nice place, too. At least, from the outside.

Looking around for some sign of life, Pinkie's gaze found a cowpony hat she'd recognize anywhere. It was sitting on top of a pony's head inside the diner across the street. She was sitting at a booth near the window, talking to a white unicorn with a purple ma—wait.

Twilight had apparently followed the line of sight. "Come on!" she ordered, rushing across the dead quiet street.

The bell above the door dinged. The eat-and-go shop was... compact. And not particularly modern. It had cheesy lighting fixtures and decorations everywhere. There were far too many tables and booths spread around too, making one feel a little squished. Only two of them were occupied at the moment, and Twilight didn't waste time in leading on towards one of them. Pinkie, however, gave a friendly wave to the two colts that were in the opposite direction before chasing after her friend.

"Ain't it about time," said Applejack with a grin, watching the two mares approach.

That quote got the other pony to turn her head around. It was most certainly Rarity—no one else could look as fabulous as her while wearing a dirty rug over their body. Her pretty purple mane was mostly hanging outside of the coat, letting her show off that fun-looking strip of bouncy hair that she always kept next to her face.

The fashionista hopped out of her seat on the booth and held out her hooves; Twilight didn't leave her hanging. The two unicorns crashed into a hug, the momentum from the collision even spinning them around once. Even when they spoke, they didn't take their hooves off of each other yet.

"Rarity, it's been so long! I missed you! I'm so sorry I never came to visit."

"Oh, it's no problem at all, dear." She elegantly cleared her throat, like she was buying a little more time. "All things considered, I'm glad you didn't."

"Your shop..." Twilight looked Rarity over. No doubt she was eyeing that beat-up paper bag that Pinkie thought was supposed to be a cloak. "Your clothes. What happened?"

Pinkie wasn't going to take this. Sure, it's great to see that Rarity's not dead, but there are other things on the proverbial table here. "Guys!" she shouted. Her loud, sudden voice was pretty effective at making the other three jump in surprise. Attention was received, though, and that's all she wanted. "Later! We have a train to catch!"

"A train?" Rarity parroted.

Twilight ignored the other unicorn for a moment, gazing past her to look at Pinkie Pie. "Relax, Pinkie. I doubt the train is there yet. We might as well at least get something to eat while we're here."

"Good," AJ fitted in, "I might have told the nice waitress you two would be payin'."

The three standing ponies took their seats at the same table. While Pinkie and Twilight waited for their order of hay fries, they along with Applejack recounted their entire adventure log so far. The party pony was glad when Twilight only glazed over the part with Rainbow Dash. That whole thing had been kind of a bummer. While eating their meal, the two of them also explained what Princess Luna had told them about. Everything right up to that reverse thing, and the destination of their train ride.

"Rarity," Twilight started, looking across the table at her target. "I'd understand if you say no, but would you be willing to accompany us?"

The pony's brilliant blue eyes fell down to the tiled flooring. There was even a sigh in there too, though she tried concealing it. "Not like there's much left for me in Canterlot. I trust Sweetie Belle is doing all right?"

"She's fine," responded the librarian. She was wearing a frown when she said it, though. "But that's another thing. The train will be going straight past Ponyville. Applejack, if you want to be with your family, none of us would blame you."

"I would," Pinkie spoke up with honesty.

That earned her a lavender knee to her ribs. It hurt, too. For a bookworm, Twilight could kick. "Pinkie!"

Pinkie rubbed the now-sore spot on her side. "Ow. What? We're days away from making history, Twilight! And then we could re-make history again and again! Who would back out now?"

Twilight was about to cast her signature spell that required no magic: her boring lecture technique. The accused pony couldn't be more grateful when Applejack spoke up ahead of her. "Simmer down, Twi. I would give anything to see my folks again. And if we were just huntin' for some voodoo rock, I might take you up on that offer." She huffed a sigh, and this one didn't bother to hide it. "But ya'll are makin' it sound like this became a mission from the princess. Kinda tough turning that down. If it's really so dangerous, seein' my family when I know they're safe ain't worth abandoning my friends."

"Then it's settled!" declared Pinkie, leaping from her seat. "Let's hit the tracks!"

"Well, it has been a little while," Twilight agreed. "Princess Luna's instructions have probably reached the station by now. We can at least go see if the train is in yet." She scooted out of the seat behind Pinkie Pie, simultaneously using her magic to grab hold of the box containing her remaining hay fries. "Rarity, promise that you'll tell us what's been going on?"

"Of course," she answered, carrying a respectful smile. "Later, when we can find the time."

Now that Pinkie got to look at it, that dusty brown coat wasn't too bad. Still not the fashion designer's best, though.

-TRS-

Twilight rolled over in her cozy cot. There was an electronic clock next to Applejack's bed; the numbers 4:00 were all lit up in green lights. The exhausted mare groaned.

Why couldn't she stay asleep? Her previous day had consisted of very little besides a never ending climb uphill. She should have fallen asleep as soon as she hit the pillow, if not before it. Her tummy had been moderately filled by their late night snack, and there weren't any problems getting on the train that would have raised her anxiety levels. She just couldn't sleep.

She attempted to roll over again to find a better position. Instead, she got something different. In her half-aware state of mind, she brushed her lips over the area on the pillow her hair had just occupied; the result of that was a mouthful of sand. Instantly, she sat up and attempted to spit the particles out, all while cursing at the voyage through Haymaker Desert. She hadn't exactly felt clean ever since that sand tornado incident, and this just went on to prove why. Once her mouth was freed from terrible-tasting grains, she arrived at the realization that she was now even more awake than before. Trying to make a quiet enough groan so as to not wake her friends, Twilight fell back down on her pillow and stared listlessly at the ceiling.

"Would you like me to brush your mane?"

That earned a small gasp from the unicorn. Her brain quickly placed the voice—it had come from the bed just ahead of her. "You startled me. You can't get any rest either, huh?"

Rarity's tone was blissful in its response. "Sleep is a wonderful luxury not all of us can afford."

"In that case, I could probably use a decent preening job," she said with a giggle. "We'll need to be quiet. I don't want to wake the other two."

"Oh, please." Rarity had already trotted up beside Twilight's bed, awaiting her to exit it. A faint blue glow next to the designer's head, visible even though the darkness of night, showed she had unsheathed her brush. "Those two could sleep through a stampeding herd of buffalo with cymbals tied to their legs."

Twilight couldn't help it. She needed to restrain herself from laughing, lest she wake everyone on the train up. "You might be right."

The brushing commenced as soon as Twilight moved herself from her place of rest to the floor. Plopping down on the bottom of a speeding train hours before sunrise was something Twilight could say she didn't expect to experience in this journey. As much as her "team leader" self tried denying it, she was undoubtedly happy that she wasn't alone this night. Misery and restless mornings love company, don't they?

"Goodness, Twilight. It looks like you stuck your head in a sand dune and left it there for days."

She was pretty impressed Rarity could make out such detail like that, even in so little light. There wasn't much more than the moon, really. That was always a knack of the pony's, though. "You'd probably be surprised. But, Rarity... Just between us, what really happened in Canterlot?"

"Like I was telling Applejack," she started. No emotion seemed more prominent than any other. "I ran before I had mastered walking. She didn't get that analogy right away, but my point is that it's true."

"Was running a store in Canterlot that much different than Ponyville?"

"Oh, by miles, darling." Twilight cringed when Rarity found a snag in her mane, and grimaced when it took her three tries to untangle it. "As I told you before leaving for Canterlot, Hoity Toity allowed me to use that place you saw for my shop. Rather unfortunately, or perhaps conveniently, he began getting difficult to contact after the first week or so. I found myself completely off guard by half the requests I was getting. Apparently, there's some bi-annual party in Canterlot that requires a specific outfit. I knew of no such thing, and felt like a fool as the customer needed to explain it to me. That is, of course, one city that you do not want to show weakness in."

"But that was just one time," Twi rebutted, "You would have been fine the next time!"

Rarity grinned at those words. "I do appreciate that. Sadly for me, I didn't have very many 'next times.' By the middle of the second week, I could hardly get anypony through the door. At the start of the third, Hoity Toity told me that if I couldn't get my act together in a week, he would need to find a new client. And, well... here we are. My grand debut in Canterlot is officially an unspectacular smoldering pile of ash."

Twilight stared at the floor. Her emotions were incredibly mixed at the moment. She felt terrible for Rarity, but on the other hoof, her mane felt incredible. Her sadness ended up leaking through more than the other, however. "If I may say so, I think you're taking the whole thing really well, Rarity. If something like that ever happened to me, I'd be a wreck."

"Well, I've certainly learned things from the experience. Both about the business and myself. I still have my health, my sister and friends, and my gorgeous looks. I shall simply return to Carousal Boutique in Ponyville, pay off a few debts I've accumulated, and start again with a clean sheet."

Those words surrounded Twilight's heart with a bubbly feeling. When this was all over, she would be returning to Ponyville with friends she hadn't left it with. They would find out what Fluttershy was doing as soon as they reached Zebrica, and Rainbow Dash... well, that would need to work itself out. But for the current moment, she was surrounded by three irreplaceable friends. Maybe, just maybe, Pinkie would throw another party. Just for the group of them. Like she used to. Twilight missed those. She had a feeling all of her friends did.

She was somewhat surprised when Rarity continued on. "There is one what-if about it that will hang over my head for awhile."

"What is it?"

Rarity paused in her combing of Twilight's mane. She had gotten the worst of the sand out already, but the mare pretty shamelessly enjoyed the feel of the bristles. "Twilight, please understand I was only doing what I thought was best. With that said, it's about my lack of communication with you over the past month. I have a reason for it. Whether it's a good reason or not... I suppose that much isn't relevant at this point."

"But what is it?" she repeated. "Pinkie and I would have loved to know what was going on before now."

"Sweetie Belle."

Twilight blinked in surprise. If only the darkness wasn't hiding Rarity's expression. "Your sister?"

The white horned pony gave herself a seat next to the purple one. From what Twilight could tell, Rarity wasn't attempting to make eye contact with her. "I wish you had been there when Sweetie found out I had gotten a chance to expand to Canterlot. If she was worried about my moving away, she sure didn't show it. She was thrilled for me that my career was going in such a positive direction. Dare I say she was happier about it than I was."

The other chuckled. "I think she looks up to you more than she tries to make it look like. But I still don't understand what the connection here is."

"If you—" she hesitated, but regained her confidence. "If you were to receive a letter from me, wouldn't you have immediately shown it to my sister?"

"I..."

Twilight's answer never got farther than that. To be honest with herself, she probably would have. If this conversation was going where she thought it was, she could see why that would be a bad thing.

"If I had sent you a letter explaining how upside-down things were going for me, Sweetie would have been devastated. With even the smallest bit of bad news, she could have panicked to her Crusader friends, and heaven knows what kind of proportions they would have blown it up to." She paused a moment to let Twilight absorb that. "The only thing I wonder is if words from my friends would have changed the outcome. Perhaps I was doing something plain wrong out of nerves, or maybe seeing you girls would have been enough to spark the inspiration for a brand new design. I suppose we'll never know now, but still."

"So then..." prodded Twilight.

Rarity giggled at the cue. "Not to worry, Twilight. I understand now things could have been handled better. When we get back to Ponyville from all of this, I shall tell my sister everything and summarize the events to the princess."

"Good!" she grinned, radiating with what she hoped to be contagious happiness, "She'll be glad to hear from you!"

With that out of the way, Rarity felt safe returning to the topic that had started it all. "That should just about do it," she stated with a few last brush strokes. "Now maybe you won't be taking half of your journey along with you in your hair."

"I appreciate the service, Rarity. I'm sure Pinkie's mane isn't much better off than mine was."

Rarity gave an uneven hmph. Twilight wasn't sure what it was for at first, but it was apparently out of genuine concern. "I noticed that Pinkie's hairstyle is less... bouncy than it used to be. Has she been doing okay?"

The observation piqued at Twilight's curiosity. The pink pony's mane was still curly, and her tail was still poofy, but looking back, Pinkie's hair did seem on the not-as-bouncy side. Then again, Pinkie herself wasn't as bouncy as she was just a month or two ago. Twilight found her answer in that thought. "She didn't have an easy time dealing with everypony leaving Ponyville. It eventually led to the Cakes asking me to come over because Pinkie had holed herself up in her room for days. That was right before this little quest began. But, in general, she's been a lot happier since we found Applejack." A disturbingly loud snore from Pinkie's direction washed out Twilight's words for a moment. It was cute, if not maybe a little gross. "And I'm sure she'll almost be back to normal now that you're here. I just hope we can recruit Fluttershy and Rainbow."

"Well, in any case, her mane doesn't seem to be bothering her, at least." Twilight giggled as Pinkie unconsciously supported Rarity's statement with a second clap of snoring. After it passed, she went on, "We have a long train ride ahead of us. I'll be able to fix her in the morning. In the meantime, you should dust off your pillow and try getting back to sleep."

The suggestion worked, or at least to some degree. Twilight couldn't stifle a yawn before it escaped. "Yeah, I'll try. Good night, Rarity."

Rarity didn't move yet. She must have just been watching her friend shake the sand off of her pillow cover, forgoing magic and doing it the old fashion way. After a few successful punches to the material, Twilight shoved it back into her cot which she proceeded to jump into. Only then did she hear a meek, "Sweet dreams, hun."